‘Can we eat in a half hour?’ Kevin asked.
‘Certainly.’
Kevin nodded. He was lucky to have Esmeralda. He turned to leave, but
Esmeralda called out to him. He hesitated, holding the door ajar.
‘There are many bad things happening in the town,’ she said. ‘Not only
for you and your friends, but also for strangers. I have a cousin who
works at the hospital. She told me that four Americans came from New
York and went into the hospital. They talked with the patient who got
the liver from the bonobo.’
‘Oh?’ Kevin questioned. Strangers coming from New York to talk to one of
the transplant patients was a thoroughly unanticipated development.
‘They just walked in,’ Esmeralda continued. ‘They were not supposed to
be there. They said they were doctors. Security was called, and the army
and the guards came to take them away. They are in the jail.’
‘My word,’ Kevin commented, while his mind veered off on a tangent. New
York reminded him of the surprising call he’d gotten a week previously
in the middle of the night from the GenSys CEO, Taylor Cabot. It had
been about the patient Carlo Franconi, who’d been killed in New York.
Taylor Cabot had asked if someone could figure out what had happened to
Carlo from an autopsy.
‘My cousin knows some of the soldiers who were there,’ Esmeralda
continued. ‘They said that the Americans will be given to the Ministers.
If they are, they will be killed. I thought you should know.’
Kevin felt a chill descend his spine. He knew such a fate was what
Siegfried had in mind for him, Melanie, and Candace. But who were these
Americans? Had they been involved with the autopsy on Carlo Franconi?
‘It is all very serious,’ Esmeralda said. ‘And I am afraid for you. I
know you went to the forbidden island.’
‘How do you know that?’ Kevin questioned with amazement.
‘In our town people talk,’ Esmeralda said. ‘When I said you were gone
unexpectedly and that the manager was looking for you, Alphonse Kimba
told my husband that you had gone to the island. He was sure.’
‘I appreciate your concern,’ Kevin said evasively and preoccupied with
his thoughts. ‘Thank you for what you have told me.’
Kevin went back to his own room. When he looked at himself in the
mirror, he was surprised how exhausted and filthy he appeared. Running a
hand over his beginning beard, he noticed something more disturbing. He
was beginning to look a lot like his double!
After a shave, shower, and clean clothes, Kevin felt revived. The entire
time, he mused about the Americans in the jail under the town hall. He
was very curious and would have liked nothing better than to go and talk
with them.
Kevin found the two women were equally refreshed. The shower had
transformed Melanie into her irrepressible self, and she complained
bitterly about the selection of clothes she’d been offered. ‘Nothing
goes with anything,’ she complained.
They settled in the dining room, and Esmeralda began serving the meal.
Melanie laughed, after looking around at the surroundings. ‘You know, I
find it almost funny that a few hours ago we were living like
Neanderthals. Then, presto, we’re in the lap of luxury. It’s like a time
machine.’
‘If only we didn’t have to worry about what tomorrow will bring,’
Candace said.
‘Let’s at least enjoy our last supper,’ Melanie said with her typical
wry humor. ‘Besides, the more I think about it, the less likely I think
it is that they can just foist us off on the Equatoguineans. I mean,
they wouldn’t be able to get away with it. This is almost the beginning
of the third millennium. The world is too small.’
‘But I’m worried . . .’ Candace began.
‘Excuse me,’ Kevin interrupted. ‘Esmeralda told me something curious
that I’d like to share with you.’ Kevin started by mentioning the phone
call he got in the middle of the night from Taylor Cabot. Then he told
the story about the arrival and subsequent incarceration of the New
Yorkers in the town’s jail.
‘Well, this’s just what I’m talking about,’ Melanie said. ‘A couple of